The next Assassin's Creed will be 'more on the next-gen side,' says Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed 4 is built on the current-gen version.

The next Assassin's Creed game will be "much more on the next-gen side," lead game designer Jean-Sebastien Decant has told Gamereactor, admitting that the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Assassin's Creed 4 are more of an extension on the current-gen game's offerings.

"When you start and you don't even know the specs or what they are going to do you don't think about that [next-gen consoles] or you're going to be sick," said Decant.

"We thought about next-gen graphics and in order to explore that we used the high-end PCs on the side, and then we continued just what we started with the previous games and build upon that. I think next next-gen is going to be for the next games. The next games are going to be much more on the next-gen side. This one is really on the edge."

A feature that could make the future Assassin's Creed game feel more next-gen is a shared open-world.

"I think we're going toward a gaming place where the open world will be shared with other players," he explained. "More and more. Socially speaking, but also maybe multiplayer stuff. And we will have to consider the open world much more like a platform that we could sustain for years."

The concept is something Ubisoft is already experimenting with in the delayed Watch Dogs.

"Watch Dogs is kind of showing us the path for the future," said Decant, but noted that Ubisoft doesn't want all its franchises losing their identity.

"We have to respect our brands. So if we have to go that way with Assassin's Creed we have to think about how it could fit into Assassin's Creed."

Decant also suggests that the setting of the next Assassin's Creed will need to enable the development team to expand on what the franchise has traditionally offered fans.

"There are lots of things we want to refine on the combat side, on the parkour, on the stealth. Of course," he admitted. "We managed I think to bring back the stealth in Assassin's Creed, which was something that was a bit put on the side in the previous episodes. So on that we're very happy and I also think we kind of totally exploded the limits of the game by bringing the naval and the ship customisation and the ship battles.

"So we made progress, thanks actually to the thematics that we chose. Next time we will have to find thematics that will help us also to expand the game once again."